Lawrence Culver
@lawrencecphd.bsky.social
Historian of environment/climate/disaster/cities/culture. Also public history & urban/enviro/recreation public policy. UCLA Bruin.
Book: The Frontier of Leisure: SoCal and the Shaping of Modern America; writing on climate & history in US & North America.
Book: The Frontier of Leisure: SoCal and the Shaping of Modern America; writing on climate & history in US & North America.
Indeed! The Salt Lake Tribune also posted this grim headline and photo today. One of the state’s swankiest ski resorts currently looks like a gravel pit.😬
February 3, 2026 at 4:38 AM
Indeed! The Salt Lake Tribune also posted this grim headline and photo today. One of the state’s swankiest ski resorts currently looks like a gravel pit.😬
As an example, here’s some historical perspective on winter 2025-2026 snowfall in Salt Lake City—a place that’s supposed to be hosting the Winter Olympics eight years from now:
February 1, 2026 at 11:22 PM
As an example, here’s some historical perspective on winter 2025-2026 snowfall in Salt Lake City—a place that’s supposed to be hosting the Winter Olympics eight years from now:
Can’t wait to never see it.
January 30, 2026 at 7:50 PM
Can’t wait to never see it.
As Colorado River Basin states squabble over water yet again, it’s almost like John Wesley Powell was onto something way back in 1878 when he warned how important it would be to carefully plan homesteading, agriculture, and development in the arid US West.
January 29, 2026 at 11:08 PM
As Colorado River Basin states squabble over water yet again, it’s almost like John Wesley Powell was onto something way back in 1878 when he warned how important it would be to carefully plan homesteading, agriculture, and development in the arid US West.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh
January 22, 2026 at 7:37 PM
Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh
My hometown river, even if it hasn’t been my geographic home in a long time, is the Cahaba.
January 13, 2026 at 12:33 AM
My hometown river, even if it hasn’t been my geographic home in a long time, is the Cahaba.
In the predawn hours one year ago, fire roared westward through Altadena, killing 19 people.
This thread is an account of the fire, its aftermath, and rebuilding efforts, informed by Altadena’s history, environmental and urban history, and my personal history there.
This thread is an account of the fire, its aftermath, and rebuilding efforts, informed by Altadena’s history, environmental and urban history, and my personal history there.
January 8, 2026 at 3:59 PM
In the predawn hours one year ago, fire roared westward through Altadena, killing 19 people.
This thread is an account of the fire, its aftermath, and rebuilding efforts, informed by Altadena’s history, environmental and urban history, and my personal history there.
This thread is an account of the fire, its aftermath, and rebuilding efforts, informed by Altadena’s history, environmental and urban history, and my personal history there.
CPB-funded programs like Sesame Street taught children to read, to learn empathy for people different from themselves, and to see integrated neighborhoods as normal.
It also funded journalism in rural & poor places—the oldest PBS network is in Alabama! No wonder the administration eliminated it.
It also funded journalism in rural & poor places—the oldest PBS network is in Alabama! No wonder the administration eliminated it.
January 6, 2026 at 1:08 AM
CPB-funded programs like Sesame Street taught children to read, to learn empathy for people different from themselves, and to see integrated neighborhoods as normal.
It also funded journalism in rural & poor places—the oldest PBS network is in Alabama! No wonder the administration eliminated it.
It also funded journalism in rural & poor places—the oldest PBS network is in Alabama! No wonder the administration eliminated it.
Historical whitewashing brought to you by the political descendants of the Jim Crow segregationists who would put up a statue of a boll weevil before they would put up a statue of agricultural scientist George Washington Carver.
January 5, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Historical whitewashing brought to you by the political descendants of the Jim Crow segregationists who would put up a statue of a boll weevil before they would put up a statue of agricultural scientist George Washington Carver.
How I’m leaving 2025
January 1, 2026 at 2:22 AM
How I’m leaving 2025
His work was also criticized for privileging private over public and prioritizing security—all too often true of his adopted city in general. Historian Mike Davis decried his post-arson fortresslike Hollywood Library as “the most menacing library ever built.”
December 6, 2025 at 12:13 AM
His work was also criticized for privileging private over public and prioritizing security—all too often true of his adopted city in general. Historian Mike Davis decried his post-arson fortresslike Hollywood Library as “the most menacing library ever built.”
Two examples of his earlier LA work, his home in Santa Monica, and Loyola Law School.
December 6, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Two examples of his earlier LA work, his home in Santa Monica, and Loyola Law School.
Disney Hall is a civic landmark, but also an example of how his designs could sometimes surpass feasibility in either construction or funding.
Yet—and this is no small thing—the concert hall itself is magnificent as a visual and acoustic space. It’s like listening to a concert inside a violin.
Yet—and this is no small thing—the concert hall itself is magnificent as a visual and acoustic space. It’s like listening to a concert inside a violin.
December 6, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Disney Hall is a civic landmark, but also an example of how his designs could sometimes surpass feasibility in either construction or funding.
Yet—and this is no small thing—the concert hall itself is magnificent as a visual and acoustic space. It’s like listening to a concert inside a violin.
Yet—and this is no small thing—the concert hall itself is magnificent as a visual and acoustic space. It’s like listening to a concert inside a violin.
Mt. Rubidoux! (Here comes more cultural/California booster history than you ever wanted.😂)
December 5, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Mt. Rubidoux! (Here comes more cultural/California booster history than you ever wanted.😂)
Reposted with examples from another moment of hallucinatory food imagery, citrus labels from 1880s-1920s California, an agricultural abundance/health/wealth/real estate/racial rejuvenation settler colonialism fantasia. (Though Californians were mere pikers in the giant citrus as UFOs department.)
December 5, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Reposted with examples from another moment of hallucinatory food imagery, citrus labels from 1880s-1920s California, an agricultural abundance/health/wealth/real estate/racial rejuvenation settler colonialism fantasia. (Though Californians were mere pikers in the giant citrus as UFOs department.)
This cartoon car ride may actually be going better than the negotiations are.
December 2, 2025 at 11:35 PM
This cartoon car ride may actually be going better than the negotiations are.
So the Sharpie pen saved us all?!?
December 2, 2025 at 9:32 PM
So the Sharpie pen saved us all?!?
Smoke Tree and Thunderbird shaped American suburbia and the spread of Ranch House-style homes, just as Palm Springs and Southern California shaped American leisure and postwar culture. However problematically, they, like Disney, shaped US life in the American century.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
November 28, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Smoke Tree and Thunderbird shaped American suburbia and the spread of Ranch House-style homes, just as Palm Springs and Southern California shaped American leisure and postwar culture. However problematically, they, like Disney, shaped US life in the American century.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Short thread:
Walt Disney loved Palm Springs and the elite enclave Smoke Tree Ranch. He owned a home there he sold to help finance Disneyland. Close by was Thunderbird, one of the first US suburban golf course residential developments. It inspired many copies, as well as Ford’s iconic automobile.
Walt Disney loved Palm Springs and the elite enclave Smoke Tree Ranch. He owned a home there he sold to help finance Disneyland. Close by was Thunderbird, one of the first US suburban golf course residential developments. It inspired many copies, as well as Ford’s iconic automobile.
November 28, 2025 at 10:31 PM
Short thread:
Walt Disney loved Palm Springs and the elite enclave Smoke Tree Ranch. He owned a home there he sold to help finance Disneyland. Close by was Thunderbird, one of the first US suburban golf course residential developments. It inspired many copies, as well as Ford’s iconic automobile.
Walt Disney loved Palm Springs and the elite enclave Smoke Tree Ranch. He owned a home there he sold to help finance Disneyland. Close by was Thunderbird, one of the first US suburban golf course residential developments. It inspired many copies, as well as Ford’s iconic automobile.
Every time I open this app right now
November 18, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Every time I open this app right now
Ugh. There’s so much of this fake AI history slop on FB.
It’s probably referencing an actual photo from 1953.
Whenever I see this stuff, I wonder which historian got their book or article scraped, and whether these posts have an actual agenda, or are purely engagement slop.
It’s probably referencing an actual photo from 1953.
Whenever I see this stuff, I wonder which historian got their book or article scraped, and whether these posts have an actual agenda, or are purely engagement slop.
October 22, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Ugh. There’s so much of this fake AI history slop on FB.
It’s probably referencing an actual photo from 1953.
Whenever I see this stuff, I wonder which historian got their book or article scraped, and whether these posts have an actual agenda, or are purely engagement slop.
It’s probably referencing an actual photo from 1953.
Whenever I see this stuff, I wonder which historian got their book or article scraped, and whether these posts have an actual agenda, or are purely engagement slop.
We will have forced corporations and governments to acknowledge our needs and safety--for all, not just some. In the end, if Altadena endures, and our society--regional, national, and global--survives in a humane and sustainable form, it will indeed be because we saved ourselves.
October 21, 2025 at 4:32 PM
We will have forced corporations and governments to acknowledge our needs and safety--for all, not just some. In the end, if Altadena endures, and our society--regional, national, and global--survives in a humane and sustainable form, it will indeed be because we saved ourselves.
The most poignant signs, however, were these:
“Altadena West of Lake: We Saved Ourselves!”
Indeed they did, and those signs were a sharp rebuke to all the failures of fire preparedness, warning systems, and the long history of racial housing discrimination in Los Angeles and the United States.
“Altadena West of Lake: We Saved Ourselves!”
Indeed they did, and those signs were a sharp rebuke to all the failures of fire preparedness, warning systems, and the long history of racial housing discrimination in Los Angeles and the United States.
October 21, 2025 at 4:32 PM
The most poignant signs, however, were these:
“Altadena West of Lake: We Saved Ourselves!”
Indeed they did, and those signs were a sharp rebuke to all the failures of fire preparedness, warning systems, and the long history of racial housing discrimination in Los Angeles and the United States.
“Altadena West of Lake: We Saved Ourselves!”
Indeed they did, and those signs were a sharp rebuke to all the failures of fire preparedness, warning systems, and the long history of racial housing discrimination in Los Angeles and the United States.